1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data generating apparatus, an ink-jet printing apparatus, and a data generating method, and particularly to a configuration of adjusting glossiness of an image formed with ink by ejecting processing liquid in addition to ink.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a field of ink-jet printing apparatus, conventional ink jet printing apparatuses are known in which printing is performed by ejecting processing liquid in addition to ink in order to adjust glossiness of images formed with ink.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 3799995 describes an approach to uniformize the glossiness (reduction of gloss unevenness) and also to reduce the amount of processing liquid to be used, by ejecting overcoat liquid as the processing liquid having film forming ability at a rate of 30 to 100 weight percent on a area where printing duty of the ink is 50% or more. Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-276482 describes a technology of reducing the gloss unevenness by adjusting the amount of ejected pigment ink and the amount of ejected clear ink as the processing liquid so that the amount of resin per unit area is constant. Specifically, an approach is described which adjusts the amount of ejected clear ink so that the amount of resin applied to respective unit areas becomes equal by focusing on the resin ingredient contained in the pigment ink and the resin ingredient in the clear ink.
Although both technologies described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3799995 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-276482 can reduce the gloss unevenness to a certain extent, there is a fundamental problem that processing liquid consumption increases. Specifically, the technology of Japanese Patent Publication No. 3799995 increases the consumption of processing liquid as the printing duty of the ink becomes higher. In addition, since transparent resin is not overcoated on an area with the printing duty of the ink being 50% or less, there is a problem that the gloss unevenness is not sufficiently improved. Furthermore, the technology of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-276482 increases the consumption of clear ink because a large amount of clear ink is applied on an image area with a low printing duty of the ink.